Tuesday, November 13, 2012

The Stereotypical Freaks by Howard Shapiro

The Stereotypical Freaks

by
Howard Shapiro

Art
by Joe Pekar and Ed Brisson

I
will admit that, as an adult, I read middle-grade books almost never,
and young adult books only slightly more often, but I was curious
about Howard Shapiro's graphic novel, The Stereotypical
Freaks, because it involved
music and I have a soft spot for "Battle of the Bands"
storylines.

Because of my reading biases, I tried to make sure I
approached the book from the viewpoint of a young reader and what
they might get out of it, rather than interpreting the themes as
meant for adults. Shapiro has written a touching story that, while
imperfect, will still likely resonate with the pre-/early teenage
set.

The
Stereotypical Freaks is the
story of four high school seniors — Tom, Dan, Marc, and Jacoby —
who end up forming a band together, despite their different social
circles at school. Tom is "the smart kid," Dan is "the
geek," Mark (formerly Marcell) is the star football player, and
Jacoby is the quiet Arctic-Canadian exchange student. Tom and Dan are
best friends, and Tom and Mark used to play together as kids, before
Mark was absorbed into the jock clique. The band comes from Tom's
desire to impress Jaelithe, who is dating a stoner guy in another
band. When they finally get it together and start practicing, Jacoby
eventually reveals some distressing news that gives them a whole new
perspective on their quest.

Shapiro
divides the story into titled chapters, each with recommended
listening. There are a lot of classics like The Who, Rush, and Bruce
Springsteen, as well as songs from the '90s — a decade I'm not yet
mentally prepared to admit has "classic" status — with
songs from Rancid, Urge Overkill and The Replacements. I'm not
entirely sure what decade this story is supposed to exist in, but
Tom's hair and everyone's clothing suggests something more current.
Because of that, I wondered why there were not any new songs listed,
though it is entirely possible that the story is set in the late '90s
(nu metal is mentioned). Of course, we all knew that kid in school
who listened to almost nothing but old stuff, but even those music
fans had a few more modern bands that they dug. With Tom being a fan
of punk, I would think that his identification with that underground
sensibility would have had him stumbling upon all kinds of bands
online. I understand the urge to make the story more timeless, but if
the book is aimed at younger readers, the playlist comes across a
little bit like, "You kids need to acquaint your self with
'real' music." If I'm wrong about the timeline, then I suppose
it just needed to be made more clear.

I
mean, I like the
recommended listening, but I'm almost thirty years old. Rancid's
...And Out Come the Wolves
is a great album that any punk fan should have, but a teenage music
fan is bound to have more than one band that "nobody" has
heard of in their collection. Also — and this is a minor quibble,
but it crossed my mind — if the band covers "Baba O'Riley,"
they need a keyboard player. I mean, Tom and Dan would have to be a
pretty impressive guitar players to adequately adapt the song without
one and still have it be any good. Maybe they are supposed to be, I
don't know, but I think the song loses a lot without that additional
instrumentation.

Another
issue I had is that the characters, Tom especially, have a tendency
to over-explain themselves and speak in a way that didn't feel natural.
At one point, while talking to Jacoby about Jaelithe, Tom says:

I just over thought things. What if
she said no? How would I be perceived in school? What would people
think if they found out that I had even asked her out? How'd they
look at her if she
said yes?

It
just doesn't seem like something a teenage boy would say out loud, in
that way, outside the protective shell of a bedroom. I am more
understanding of the internal monologue being very analytical and
dramatic, as that's both typical of Tom's age and more traditional in
the comic/graphic novel format. I guess my complaint is that the
importance of different themes is overly spelled out, when maybe we
should trust a younger reader to make that leap for themselves.

Still,
like I said, I'm not the intended audience. Shapiro has still written
characters that non-adult readers can identify with in some way, and
Freaks reinforces the
message that, no matter how together someone may seem, we all feel
misunderstood at times and we all have our problems. It's meant to be
a feel-good story with a hefty dose of perspective. I don't know if
older teenagers would get much out of it for that reason — as Dan
shows, high school seniors are well on their way to being cynics —
but for the under-15 set? Sure. My eight-year-old daughter
immediately picked up the book when it arrived in the mail and asked
if she could read it when I was done with it. I said yes. Though I'm
not highly concerned about it, other parents might be pleased to know
that there's no swearing in Freaks.
(Even if there was a bit, my daughter is currently the type to
mentally go, "Inappropriate!" and quickly keep on with the
story, which I guess makes my life easier.) As long as your kid has
the ability to read a longer book and is interested, then this a good
graphic novel to pass along. Though the novel revolves around four
boys, I still think girls can appreciate it as well. The story is
bittersweet and one sees the ending coming, but it is handled in a
touching and sincere way.

Full Disclosure: The book was sent to me by the author. I thank him for the gesture, and I will continue to be fair with my reviews.The book will be released tomorrow, November 14, and is a Goodreads giveaway until the 16th.